7298results about "Acceleration measurement using interia forces" patented technology

Methods are disclosed for determining speed or distance traveled of moving persons by utilizing sensors in shoes. Methods and systems are disclosed to determine and report weight of a person wearing a shoe via a sensor with the shoe. Shoe based systems employing sensors (e.g., accelerometers) are disclosed to determine and report (e.g., via a watch) speed and / or distance traveled.

A method of bonding of germanium to aluminum between two substrates to create a robust electrical and mechanical contact is disclosed. An aluminum-germanium bond has the following unique combination of attributes: (1) it can form a hermetic seal; (2) it can be used to create an electrically conductive path between two substrates; (3) it can be patterned so that this conduction path is localized; (4) the bond can be made with the aluminum that is available as standard foundry CMOS process. This has the significant advantage of allowing for wafer-level bonding or packaging without the addition of any additional process layers to the CMOS wafer.

A sigma-delta modulator can be used for actuating a sensor element. The sigma delta modulator includes: a forward branch to which an input signal is fed at an input and which includes a loop filter, a quantizer and an output for providing an output signal. A feedback branch is configured to feed back the output signal of the forward branch at least temporarily to the input of the forward branch. A signal source is configured to generate a readout signal which corresponds to the voltage profile at the sensor element during a measuring process. A control unit is configured to generate a control signal dependent on which either the output signal of the forward branch or the readout signal of the signal source is fed back to the input of the forward branch.

An FPC is constructed of two FPC branches, and a connection line that connects to a controller. Printed wiring of the connection line includes ten printed wires. The central four printed wires are signal reception wires, which are connected to two converters (sensors). Grounding wires are provided on both sides of the four signal reception wires. Two outer signal wires are provided adjacent to the grounding wires, respectively toward the outsides thereof. Further, two more grounding wires are provided adjacent to the outer signal wires, respectively on the outsides thereof. This construction results in shielding of all of the signal wires. This relationship is maintained in the FPC branches as well.

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a MEMS device, and technique of fabricating or manufacturing a MEMS device, having mechanical structures encapsulated in a chamber prior to final packaging and a contact area disposed at least partially outside the chamber. The contact area is electrically isolated from nearby electrically conducting regions by way of dielectric isolation trench that is disposed around the contact area. The material that encapsulates the mechanical structures, when deposited, includes one or more of the following attributes: low tensile stress, good step coverage, maintains its integrity when subjected to subsequent processing, does not significantly and / or adversely impact the performance characteristics of the mechanical structures in the chamber (if coated with the material during deposition), and / or facilitates integration with high-performance integrated circuits. In one embodiment, the material that encapsulates the mechanical structures is, for example, silicon (polycrystalline, amorphous or porous, whether doped or undoped), silicon carbide, silicon-germanium, germanium, or gallium-arsenide.

A motion sensing apparatus generally comprising a housing unit operable to be attached to an object at an attachment position, an accelerometer operable to provide a signal corresponding to an acceleration measurement; and a processing system. The processing system is operable to acquire the signal corresponding to the acceleration measurement and analyze the acquired acceleration measurement to identify the attachment position of the housing unit.

A transducer is provided herein which comprises an unbalanced proof mass (51), and which is adapted to sense acceleration in at least two mutually orthogonal directions. The proof mass (51) has first (65) and second (67) opposing sides that are of unequal mass.

An electronic component includes a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface, a cavity that penetrates from the first surface to the second surface of the semiconductor substrate, and an electrical mechanical element that has a movable portion formed above the first surface of the semiconductor substrate so that the movable portion is arranged above the cavity. The electronic component further includes an electric conduction plug, which penetrates from the first surface to the second surface of the semiconductor substrate, and which is electrically connected to the electrical mechanical element.

Acceleration data which is output from an acceleration sensor is obtained. A rotation motion of an input device around a predetermined direction as a rotation axis is determined by comparing a start point in a two-dimensional coordinate system which is represented by the first acceleration data obtained in a predetermined period, and an end point in the two-dimensional coordinate system which is represented by the last acceleration data obtained in the predetermined period. Coordinate axes of the two-dimensional coordinate system are defined based on components of the two axial directions of the acceleration data, and an origin of the two-dimensional coordinate system represents a value of the acceleration data in the state where no acceleration including the acceleration of gravity acts upon the acceleration sensor. Motion data including at least the determined rotation motion is output.

Oscillators have capacitors, respectively, whose capacitances change according to an external force and generate first oscillating signals according to the capacitances. Each of the capacitors is disposed, for example, between a substrate and a mass body that is movably disposed to face the substrate and oscillates in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. A detecting unit detects a relative difference between the capacitances of the capacitors as a difference between frequencies of the first oscillating signals. An angular speed or acceleration applied in a horizontal direction of the substrate is calculated according to the frequency change detected by the detecting unit. Therefore, a capacitance difference detecting circuit and a MEMS sensor that detect a minute change in the capacitances of the two capacitors caused by the external force are formed.

A system for estimating motion parameters corresponding to a user. The system may generally include a receiver operable to receive a signal from an external source, an inertial sensor operable to be coupled with the user and arbitrarily oriented relative to the direction of user motion for generation of a signal corresponding to user motion, and a processing system in communication with the receiver and inertial sensor. The processing system can be operable to utilize the receiver signal to estimate a first parameter corresponding to a first motion parameter type, utilize the inertial sensor signal to estimate a second parameter corresponding to a second motion parameter type, generate a user-specific motion model to correlate the first parameter type and second parameter type using at least the first and second estimated parameters, utilize the inertial sensor signal to estimate a third parameter corresponding to the second parameter type, and utilize the motion model and the third parameter to estimate a fourth parameter corresponding to the first parameter type independent of the receiver signal.